It's the end of the world as you know it – brought to you by a Gnome Mage with big balls of fire

Betaggedon: I went home and it was BEAUTIFUL!

There was no statue to Gnomeaggedon (I have raised a bug report), but NEW Tinker Town nearly made my heart burst.

I haven’t even done anything there yet, I am still a bit overcome with emotion.

I’m not going to show you.

If you are a Gnome…

If you have played one and loved one…

Then the homecoming is yours to experience.

I am going to tell you a little of my journey through the Portal of Time: Destination near future. I don’t think there is much that will spoil your experience, if there is, I will try to make it difficult to see, or easy to avoid… or, well, they aren’t much as spoilers anyway… you have probably already heard more from a guy, that knows a guy, that worked with a guy, that slept with a woman, that dreams about Gnomes and Men, than you will see here.

It started with an email…

Which turned into a downloader…

which turned into an installer…

Which turned into a downloader…

Can I play now?

I wanted to play straight away of course.. but the downloader was working away.

I walked away, then in a foolish attempt to convince myself I could download 1/2 my months download quota in a couple of minutes I walked back to the PC and saw…

Oh youre teasing!

It seemed to be saying I could play?

So I tried!

I love the new downloader! (which is like the trial account, where you play and it downloads what it needs while you do so)

scribbles to draw your attention to the important one

Yes I scrawled on that picture… there will be more of that.

When I got in, I had to make a choice.

What character would I roll before I checked out the character copy feature. I wanted to play with both classes that I know, otherwise it is a waste of my resources (although there is something to be said for looking at classes with a fresh eye… that way you don’t overlook what is understood by the experienced).

—– MINOR SPOILER END —-

I couldn’t do this alone!

I want to experience what I have heard is a very buggy Gnome starting experience and I didn’t want to do it alone.

Oh my Larisa! What have you done with your hair?

While I was at it, I got her that hair cut she refuses to have ;-)

I feel for Larisa.

She like me is torn.

No opening Christmas presents for us… but how much would you like to pack them for all the other millions of people waiting for their Cataclysmic Christmas?

So, I have dragged her in with me, if only in the virtual sense. We can share the new starting zone together and I promise to protect her as much as I can from what is about to be another minor spoiler (although only if you roll or reroll a Gnome before you have the chance to forget this crappy post). Once again, skip the next few pictures and red text if you really want to stay a Cataclysm virgin (which of course means you have followed absolutely zero Cataclysm information to date)

—– MINOR SPOILER START —-

Larisa striped and infected

To begin with, of all humiliations possible, she is disrobed from her beautiful purple robe and given rogues britches.

But then I notice something truly concerning…

I dont want her to die!

I’ve got to find a cure… STAT!

I don’t want a Leper Larisa… I want a Pink Pigtailed Larisa!

So I go one step further than I did with BigBeerGut, and I do a quest, which involves killing a few less-than-friendly Gnomes (there are less of them than us OK!)

more scribbles

Before I knew it, I was informed that Larisa had gained a level!

Hooray… Ohh hang on… Mmmm this must be Beta…

I mean I know Larisa is a smart one, but can she really be that far ahead of the leveling curve?

—– MINOR SPOILER END —-

What’s in a Gnome name?

I logged off to let the downloader do it’s thing… which I believe is download.

Meanwhile I wanted to check out Gazimoff’s latest Cataclysm Fire Mage video on Fire Dancing, the technique that we Fire Mages will probably be using to kite and kill without being sliced and diced.

While I was there I decided to sign up to YouTube, so I quietly entered my name… Gnomeaggedon if you didn’t know, and…

WTF!

Gnomeagedon is not available

So I am now TheRealGnomeaggedon on YouTube… not that it really matters, except I AM the real Gnomeaggedon!

Little did I know it was a sign of things to come…

I went to transfer Gnomeaggedon to the Beta realm.. but… the 1st hurdle was my inability to transfer anything!

FIVE DAYS!

I tried again tonight, and it was instant.. but for a minute there, I thought that Gnomeaggedon was going to be left on the steps of the Dalaran bank, bags packed, but no taxi to the portal.

Both of them on their way to Beta

The news got better, my hopes were rising!

Was it possible?

Was Gnomeaggedon already there?

Let’s look…

Gnomeaggedon has arrived!

Yes, Yes, Yes screamed that silly woman in the cafe.

Yes, Yes, Yes I screamed at my computer.

The effect on both of us was pretty similar.

Time to log Gnomeaggedon in…

No wonder it took so long for Blizzard to send me my Beta invite… they must have invited all 101 OTHER Gnomeaggedon’s before they invite ME, ME, ME!

Yeah, just in case you were wondering… that includes my more literate children… Gnomeageddon was taken as well…

So what happens to a Gnome when they step through a portal into a parallel, mirror universe…

Well, knowing Gnomish technology… I remain flagged (for PvP)…

… but things get flipped about a little bit…

Nodeggaemong is not just Coming… He has arrived!

Just in case there was any doubt that this was a Beta…

The only time I managed to pull aggro (well, to be completely honest, the time that the Help Window appeared to tell me about aggro), was when I ported into Stormwind.

I put it down to my arrival in the home of our OPPRESSORS!

But it’s not our home any longer.. no our home is in NEW Tinker town… although I note a few coat-tailing Gnomes have remained behind. I hope, I pray, they are there to undermine the stinking oppressors from the inside.

Hmm, not sure if that rename would have been necessary indeed. But well, it makes more of a story, that’s true :)

Every character copied to the beta will be flagged for rename (as indicated by a ‘!’ behind the name on the character selection screen). I guess it is easier for blizard to simply flag every character for rename than to figure out if a rename would be required, not to mention it allows for ‘well known names’ to stay a bit more anonymous.

So far I was able to “rename” my transfered characters back to their original name, once I realized this …